Abbott Labs and the World Marathon Majors

Just announced at Chicago, is the new global sponsorship for Abbott labs at all 6 World Major marathons: Chicago, New York, London, Paris, Berlin and Tokyo

Said Abbott Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Paul Magill, “This is more about promoting Abbott’s purpose than it is promoting Abbott’s products” which was just about the smartest thing he could have said. If you look at their product lineup, it covers a complete lifecycle and has athletic performance products in the mix as well. With 70% of their business outside of the US, it’s a great match for Abbott and it pulls the 6 different events together into a more cohesive unit. It’s all about quality of life.

The year-round media coverage of these events, the global appeal of the sport and the steady 4-5% growth of marathons is appealing on many fronts to a sponsor. Not to mention that each of them has other events within (half marathon, 10k, kids runs, disabled events) and that more than 50% of participants are now women. Running events also produce dramatic charity and volunteer efforts, along with employee engagement, and you can be sure that’s going to be a focus for Abbott as well.

I hope this trend continues and we start to see more global series and global sponsors